Roman Silver Denarius Of Severus Alexander (Ad 222-235) NGC

from $68.85

Coins Displayed are examples and not the actual coin sold.

Cleaning up the decadent mess left behind by his cousin Elagabalus, Severus Alexander was as kindly as he was effective. The 13 years of his reign were marked by general peace and prosperity. He checked the Sassanids in the East, and manipulated the Germanic tribes through diplomacy and bribery. None of this prevented him from being assassinated, however, and the lack of a viable heir plunged Rome into the so-called Crisis of the Third Century, a 50-year period of intense chaos and upheaval.

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Coins Displayed are examples and not the actual coin sold.

Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander^[1] (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus,^[2] was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. The last emperor from the Severan dynasty, he succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222, at the age of 13. Alexander himself was eventually assassinated, and his death marked the beginning of the events of the Crisis of the Third Century, which included nearly fifty years of civil war, foreign invasion, and the collapse of the monetary economy.

Alexander was the heir to his cousin, the 18-year-old Emperor Elagabalus. The latter had been murdered along with his mother Julia Soaemias by his own guards, who, as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river.^[3] Alexander and his cousin were both grandsons of Julia Maesa, who was the sister of empress Julia Domna and had arranged for Elagabalus's acclamation as emperor by the Third Gallic Legion.